Match Amp w/Tekton Design Lore


I recently purchased a pair of Tekton Design Lore speakers. I made this move because of all the reviews about how well they work with tubes. I'm using these with a variant of the YAQIN MC-100B Integrate. This unit has been upgrade with some "better" internals.My issue is, although the Tektons sound okay, they leave me somewhat underwhelmed. The Integrate puts out 60 watts per in UL & 30 watts per in Triode. It runs the speakers in Triode but I've found that the speakers need the higher wattage of UL. Being a 98 db efficiency speaker, I thought that even the 30 tube watts would drive the speakers with ease. They do drive them but I can turn volume ALL the way up and still could go louder. (I'm using KT 88 Gold Lion power tubes) Yes, I have enough hours on the speakers to break them in. I do not listen at ear drum breaking levels but it's just lacking in overall quality of sound. My B&W bookshelves sound great with this amp and they are much less efficient not to mention only a 6.5 inch main speaker.
So I guess I'm asking if anyone has experienced a need for these Lore speakers to be matched with a higher output amp? Sure, 30 tube watts drive them but, for me, leave something to be desired.
wcc10

Showing 1 response by zippydoodah

Most recently I've been using a Decware Zen flea power amp with all of 2 watts per channel power with my Lores and I am quite pleased. I agree on the break in time; that's very important and I would recommend at least eighty hours. I use a preamp rather than the full integrated feature of the Zen and stream via a Macbook Pro (2009) via optical digital stream and use an off board DAC, a simple NAD 1050. Silver core interconnects throughout.
I chose the Tekton's in part because of their stated higher efficiency design. Now this may be sacrilegious, but due to my listening room acoustics I also choose to use the equalizer feature on the Mac depending on the original source CD, that is, how well it was engineered and mastered. Every CD is different, period. In contrast, I have also used a Mesa Baron with the Tekton's and that was also a great match, ridiculous power to spare. I guess all I can add is tweak, tweak, tweak and try different combinations. Happy listening.